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Low PH and cycle

Nubias

Member
Joined
2 Jul 2018
Messages
145
Location
Melbourne, Australia
So I have read that a low PH can stall the cycle process and that nitrifying bacteria prefer a PH around 7

Due to using Amazonia I'm leaching sufficient amounts of ammonia to feed bacteria but the aqua soil is obviously lowering the ph of the water as well.

It is only day 6 but the Ph has been consistent around 6.0 -6.4 and ammonia readings 2-4ppm
No nitrite yet ( too early I imagine yet anyway) and nitrate readings 20-40ppm (also not sure why as tap water tests 0)

KH and Gh around 35.8 (2 drops of solutions from API test kits)

I have been using seachem stability during this first week double dosing and will continue until bottle is empty prob around day 10.

Is there anything I should be doing at this stage to assist cycle and ph level ? When should I expect to see a rise in nitrite? Is the PH too low for anything to be happening and I’m wasting time using stability?

Tank temp is around 26 Celsius give or take ~78f
 
Any plants ?

Stop wasting money with stability, as the bacteria you want exist already in the tank, you just have to patient to let them grow. 8 weeks or maybe 12 weeks if using Amazonia will be plenty long enough to guarantee the tank is cycled.

Adding plants will help greatly as they will consume the ammonia (and add many more bacteria), but be careful about light levels as leeched ammonia and higher light levels can lead to algae moving in.

Frequent water changes also helps keep ammonia lower.

Please read this about test kits.
https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/what-about-test-kits.52487/

I suspect, though impossible to know using hobby test kits, you water is high in nitrates, but presence of chlorine is causing test kits to misread (ie 0ppm) or nitrate is in fact 0 but and unknown something else is causing a false reading. Either way it doesn't matter the result, as what will you do if 0ppm or what will you do if 40ppm ?
 
There are lots of species and strains of bacteria, your tank will get colonised by ones that thrive in the conditions present. The same applies to Archaea, which are more important than bacteria for nitrification in most tanks, and plants are more important still. This has been discussed in various threads on this forum, if you want to go into it in depth have a search.
One difference pH makes where ammonia is concerned is that at lower pH a geater proportion of ammonia becomes ammonium, which is less harmful to livestock. You would still like a zero level, but if there is a problem, you have a bit more leeway before things get bad.
So, pH6 is fine.
No need to buy products to add bacteria.
Get your plants well established before introducing livestock.
Don't put too much faith in test kits.
 
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